eat crow

1. To suffer a humiliating experience: “The organizers had to eat crow when the fair they had sworn would attract thousands drew scarcely a hundred people.” The phrase probably refers to the fact that crow meat tastes terrible.

Idioms and Phrases

Also, eat dirt or humble pie . Be forced to admit a humiliating mistake, as in When the reporter got the facts all wrong, his editor made him eat crow . The first term's origin has been lost, although a story relates that it involved a War of 1812 encounter in which a British officer made an American soldier eat part of a crow he had shot in British territory. Whether or not it is true, the fact remains that crow meat tastes terrible. The two variants originated in Britain. Dirt obviously tastes bad. And humble pie alludes to a pie made from umbles , a deer's undesirable innards (heart, liver, entrails). [Early 1800s] Also see eat one's words .

Example Sentences

I was a union man and went on strike and fought scabs and made the bosses eat crow.

From Project Gutenberg

Some people dont like to eat crow, but its been found theyre not so very bad, after all.

From Project Gutenberg

He had said that Ticktock must go when fall came, and he hated to eat crow.

From Project Gutenberg

Hicks consented to eat crow only after Mr. Ware had cursed and cajoled him into a better and more forgiving frame of mind.

From Project Gutenberg

But this son of a thousand earls, or of something else, wouldn't eat owl when owl was served, though he would eat crow.

From Project Gutenberg